Be careful crossing the street

Parents who let their children walk to school may want to take extra precautions this year: Nassau County has left some crossing guard posts unmanned.

As a result of a hiring freeze and work force reduction through retirement incentive plans, the number of crossing guards in the county has dropped by nearly a third in the past three years.

Parents in Island Park voiced concerns when they realized that on Sept. 5, the first day of school, the crossing guard was missing from the corner of Austin Boulevard and Trafalgar Boulevard, a busy intersection near the Lincoln Orens Middle School. When Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford, a Republican from Long Beach, found out that the post was unmanned, she called Deputy County Executive Rob Walker, who told her that because a number of guards retired last year and had not yet been replaced, some posts were temporarily unmanned.

According to Ryan Mulholland, director of communications for the Nassau County Civil Service Employees Association Local 830 — the union for the civilian county work force — there were 424 full-time crossing guards in 2009, but this year there are only 301 full and part-time guards.

While full-time guards are required to remain in the vicinity of their crossing for an entire eight-hour shift, part-timers are allowed to leave between shifts, union President Jerry Laricchiuta explained.

According to Inspector Kenneth Lack of the Nassau County Police Department, some of the unmanned posts are being filled by police officers — a common practice when crossing guards are sick.

Mulholland said that each day there are 15 to 20 officers manning posts that are without crossing guards, but he added that he was not sure whether every post was occupied.

“This happens all the time,” said Lack. “If a crossing guard gets sick, an officer will fill in. It ebbs and flows, but they’re called in when posts need to be filled. The children are a priority.”

Mulholland said that the CSEA was told that 48 new part-time crossing guards would be hired for the first day of the school year, but as far as he was aware, none actually were.

Ford said that she told Walker that the guard at Lincoln Orens was necessary for student safety and that children were otherwise in danger, and a guard was back at the intersection on Sept. 6.

Certain school districts in the county, including Oceanside and Island Park, have received letters in recent weeks from the NCPD concerning potential cuts in crossing guard posts.

A countywide survey of crossing guards is done every five years, Lack said, to gauge efficiency and necessity. Lack added that over time, the number of children using a crossing varies.

According to Laricchiuta, the union was told that the NCPD would switch this year to the “ABC” system, used in New York City, in which crossings are designated as A, very essential; B, somewhat essential; or C, not essential.

“The Police Department has decided that there are some posts that will not be held if there is not proper staffing,” Laricchiuta said. “Who’s going to determine that a kid is not essential?”

Oceanside Superintendent Dr. Herb Brown declined to comment, and Island Park Superintendent Dr. Rosmarie Bovino did not return calls seeking comment before the Herald went to press.

While some schools have said they believe the cuts in crossing guard posts have been finalized, Lack said that the county had not yet done so. Letters were sent to school districts notifying them of which intersections were being considered for cuts. “Nothing has been decided yet,” Lack said. “We’re not making any decisions about cuts until the survey is complete. The letters we sent were only meant to show our preliminary survey findings to the school districts and receive feedback.”

“Now that many crossing guards are being hired in part-time positions, they can cost as little as $15,000, but the services they provide are immeasurable,” Ford said. “In this day and age, we need to increase the school crossing guards, not reduce them.”